


To turn his back on the water

by 35391291



Category: Black Sails
Genre: Gen, M/M, Sea-longing, Sentient Nature
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 13:07:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12458415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/35391291/pseuds/35391291
Summary: Will the sea wash it all away? He doesn't know how. But he can ask. Maybe the sea has the key.The sea chose him, but he chose something else.





	To turn his back on the water

And if you choose  
To take that path  
I will play you like a shark  
And I'll clutch at your heart  
I'll come flying like a spark  
to enflame you

\- Crowded House: [Pineapple head](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PZB3FMROKI).

*

He can feel it. The sea is here. Everywhere. The sea is everything now. But he still fights back. He never chose this path. Maybe it chose him, maybe it was so. He can't remember how, but the sea called, and he answered. This is how it was. It burnt. It set him on fire. It claimed him like a spark.

There is so much he still has to learn. He wants to walk away, but the sea leaves messages for him. In the sand, in the sky, in the scattered feathers and bones. There was a story here. There is one now. And there will be another one soon. This is the sea, tonight. It is everywhere, and it has something to say. And it knows he does, too. It _knows_. And this is what it's offering.

And he knows it well. All too well. Back then the sea was a cage, a wall between him and the world. He was on the outside looking in, not there at all. And he knows he still doesn't belong. Maybe he never will. But he needs to be _here_. He needs to be someone.

He is tired. He is almost beaten. And one day, he might have to admit it. But not today. Not now.

Someone else is out here too. Lost. In another life, they could have faded away together, until they became dreams. They could have written another story, deep within the waves. Their gifts and offerings would have been sad and raw, but real. But the sea doesn't want them now. Not like this. If they can't stay here forever, they will have to find their way back.

And they will. This is the starting point. This is the first night, when they will find each other. With or without the sea.

He still struggles. He doesn't know why. There is a word for everything he forgot, but he doesn't know it. Not yet. But the sea does. It is silver and blue. Like him. Like the world. Like this pain within, this pain that simply won't quit. And he tries. He tries to stop it, to fill this space. Will the sea wash it all away? He doesn't know how. But he can ask. Maybe the sea has the key. It will forget what he can't leave behind. It will find him. It will bring him back.

He reaches out, out here in the dark. He blurs the line between dream and reality. At last. And there is no difference. And he knows what he has to do, and it is easy. To have his trust, to have his friendship. To turn his back on the water, to hold out his hand, to have his heart. He will keep it in his pocket, close to his own. He will have this too. And maybe, just maybe, he will be found. He will drown here. And he will walk away. He will have it all.

And one day, the seagulls will fly away with his heart. And it will be lost, far, far away from the land. And it will be found. The sea will make a mirage for him, and for him alone. It will wrap his heart in copper and sharp shells, and hold it close, close like a rare gift. The sea was the key. The sea chose him, but he chose something else. He chose another path. He walked and he saw the world. He was hurt and he forgot. But one day, he stopped. He turned around and opened his eyes. He found the sea in someone else. And he remembered.


End file.
